This invention relates to the field of display systems and more particularly to backlighted liquid crystal display (LCD) systems. LCD's consume significantly lower power than Light Emitting Diodes (LED's) therefore, they are widely used in units where power consumption is critical, such as battery operated watches, calculators, and portable radio devices. However, LCD's require light for illumination since they merely reflect or absorb light emitted from other sources. The prior art backlighting system provides a uniform backlight by utilizing a light guide which is positioned behind the liquid crystal display.
A prior art light guide 100 is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. The light guide normally is made from a slab of transparent plastic material, substantially uniform in thickness. The slab has a front surface 102, a rear surfaces 104 and six bordering surfaces 106, 108, 110, 112, 114, and 116, perpendicular to the front and rear surfaces. Two of the bordering surfaces 106, 108 are mutually parallel and are located at opposite ends of the slab. The remaining four bordering surfaces 110, 112, 114, 116 are arcuate in shape. The rear surface 104 has two rectangular planes 144, 146 depressed into it.
Light sources such as LED's 122, 124 are located adjacent to each of the parallel surfaces 106, 108. Light source holders 156,158 are basically half cylindrically shaped notches, integrally molded into the parallel surfaces 106 and 108 along their vertical axis, and are open at the top and bottom. The shape of the light holders 156, 158 depends on the size of the particular light source used and may have notches 168, 170, 172, 174 cut into the sides of the holder to allow bending of the leads of the light source.
A reflective coating covers the rear surface 104 and the bordering surfaces 106, 108, 110, 112, 114, 116. The light source holders 156, 158, notches, or inner wall surface 118, 120, and the section of front surface 102 adjacent to the liquid crystal display surface remains transparent.
In operation, light emitted from the light sources 122,124 enters the light guide 100 through the transparent notches inner wall surfaces 118, 120 and gets reflected to the clear front surface 102 resulting in substantially uniform illumination of the liquid crystal display. The light emitted from the light sources 122,124 enters the light guide directly through transparent section of side surfaces 106, 108 substantially parallel to the front and rear surfaces 102,104. A complete detailed description of this type light guide is given in U.S. Pat. No. 4,630,895, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set out herein.
With this known approach the light source is positioned in the exposed area 156,158 therefore some of the intensity of the light source is lost. Furthermore, using leaded components as light source presents several manufacturing related problems concerning soldering and automation. Particularly, if a leaded light source is soldered and then is subjected to a solder reflow process (a preferred soldering process in automated manufacturing environments) the previously soldered leaded component is exposed to high temperature which can cause unreliable solder connections and possible component failure.